Pope Francis prays in Assisi, says God never justifies violence

(ANSA) - Assisi, September 20 - Pope Francis said on Tuesday that God's name can never be used to justify violence, as he attended a day of prayer for peace with representatives of other faiths in the central Italian city of Assisi.
    During Tuesday's event, the 30th anniversary of the first Assisi interreligious meeting for peace among peoples, Francis urged world leaders to not tire of seeking pathways to peace.
    "The name of God can never justify violence. Only peace is holy, and not war!," Francis said. "We are called to free ourselves from the heavy burdens of diffidence, fundamentalism and hate. Let believers be peace makers".
    The gathering for peace came on the same day that a UN aid convoy was hit by an airstrike in Syria, killing about 20 people, escalating tensions and putting a week-old ceasefire at risk. The ceasefire is the latest attempt to halt a war that is now in its sixth year and has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
    After arriving in Assisi, Francis went to the Holy Convent, where he greeted several senior religious leaders including Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, and Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio that is the driving force of the day of interreligious prayer.
    The pontiff also attended a lunch with faith leaders, to which 25 refugees were invited as special guests, including 12 from war and conflict zones like Syria and Nigeria.
    He warned on Tuesday of "the great malady of our time: indifference." He said it was a "virus that paralyses, makes inert and insensitive, a disease that undermines the very centre of religiousness, generating a new, very sad paganism: the paganism of indifference".
    He said "we cannot remain indifferent. Today the world has an ardent thirst for peace".